Lending a Hand
by Ai Roku
Summary: Kagome indulges in some self-exploration. Rated M for safety


Disclaimer: I have no rights to the Inuverse, or the Aerosmith song Pink the lyrics of which I borrowed for my chapter title, so please don't sue!

Right, she could do this; there was nothing to worry about! Sango had promised to keep the boys distracted while she took care of this.

Oh, but it was still so embarrassing!

Kagome felt like she should be humming a song from one of those secret agent/ spy shows or something as she slowly and cautiously unsnapped her pink satin bra, all the while shooting furtive glances around the small clearing in which she was standing.

She wanted to be in the privacy of her own room right now instead of out in the open where anyone could see her!

Suddenly she had a disturbingly vivid image of Koga blowing in on his tornado while she was right in the middle of her exploration….Screw her own room, she'd settle for something with walls and a door!

No, she refused to give into her nerves; she had delayed doing it for long enough.

It had already been four days since the end of her period, and she normally only waited two days afterward.

No matter how uncomfortable she was right now she couldn't put it off anymore; her usual routine had already been thrown off as it was.

Kagome's mother had taught her shortly after she had, as her mama put it '**blossomed**', that it was never too early to start this kind of self exploration. That if for no other reason she should start early so as to get into the habit of doing it regularly. However she had never had to perform this particular act while in the past before.

Unfortunately about two weeks ago the group had picked up on Naraku's trail, (a false one as it turned out) and ended up too far away from the village for her to make it back home on time.

She had thought about asking Inuyasha or maybe Kirara to take her to the well, but either option would have required an explanation that she was not prepared to give.

Yeah, she could just picture Inuyasha's face after she told him why she needed to go home. Wide eyes, mouth agape, face as fiery red as his kimono, and the stuttering, sweet Kami the stuttering!

It would almost be worth the humiliation she would have to suffer just to see him reduced to that…almost.

Aside from her hanyou friend's reaction, the raven haired girl knew that if she divulged this information she would have to deal with Miroku's rampant perverted tendencies; oh yeah he'd have a veritable field day with this!

So she was definitely going to take a pass on sharing, at least where the boys were concerned.

Sango on the other hand had proven to be an invaluable ally once she had explained her predicament; and now here she was wasting the precious time that the loyal slayer was buying for her!

Kami only knew what kind of sexual harassment she was currently enduring in order to keep the monk occupied, or what kind of excuses she was feeding Inuyasha about the sudden disappearance of his favorite ramen maker!

She needed to just stop staling and get it over with so that she could rescue her faithful friend from Inuyasha's wrath and Miroku's **'cursed'** hand!

Resolve fully in place, Kagome determinedly pulled out her small adjustable table mirror from inside her bag and proceeded to kneel to the ground. Sitting upright with her weight on her knees, she places the mirror on a flat rock in front of her, tilting it up slightly until she achieves the correct angle; her girls now staring her smack dab in the face from the reflection.

Beginning with her arms hanging down at her sides Kagome thoroughly examines her breasts in the mirror, searching for even the smallest change or abnormality, before raising her arms above her head and repeating the process.

She would have preferred to use a full length mirror for this, like the one that hung on the back of the door to her closet for example, but as desperate times called for desperate measures her table mirror would just have to do.

Luckily do to the regularity of this ritual she knew every inch of skin, every scar and blemish by heart and was quickly able to determine that nothing had changed in the past month. No discoloration, rashes, swelling, dimpling, caving, redness or abnormality of size and shape…Check!

Finished with the first step of the routine, the intrepid miko lowers her half- naked self to the ground before reclining to lay flat on her back.

Still feeling some lingering trepidation about doing this in the great outdoors, Kagome hesitantly raises her right hand to her left breast. With the pads of three fingers she begins a series of 1 yen sized circular motions against her skin.

Her first circle uses only a light touch, on the second she increases to a medium touch, and for the third and final rotation she uses a deeper pressure. As she moves from area to area in an up and down pattern, she makes sure to keep contact between the skin of her breasts and the pads of her fingers.

She continues these motions until she has examined a large square area that encompasses all the breast tissue; running the width of her armpit to her breastbone and from her collarbone to the spot where the bottom band of her bra would usually rest.

Switching to her left hand, she proceeds to explore the right breast using the same technique. Last but not least she examines her armpits, lifting her arm just slightly and not all the way up to ensure that the skin doesn't become taut.

Finally finished Kagome is relieved to note that she has found no firm lumps, or areas that feel thicker than the others during her self-exam.

With a sigh the raven haired girl, reaches for her bra reflecting that all of her paranoia about being seen had been for nothing in the end.

Just as she was sticking her left arm through the strap of her bra a shadow suddenly fell over her and a deep baritone voice asked, "Miko what exactly was it that you were doing?"

With a highly undignified squeak of surprise the miko in question quickly wraps her arms around her still bare chest, pretty pink bra dangling forgotten from her elbow as she scrambles to hide herself behind a small bush growing nearby.

It's really too bad that despite her earlier caution she had gotten so into her exam that she hadn't felt the predatory eyes upon her and consequently realized that she had gained an audience around the time she had switched breasts.

"Se-Sesshomaru, I swear i-it's not what it looked liked, I can explain!"

When she received no answer, the now mortified girl gathered all her courage and slowly raised her head up to peek over the top of her leafy hiding place.

She was greeted by the sight of the daiyoukai in all his regal glory, still standing in place and simply staring at her; as she watched, one of his eyebrows quirked up slightly.

Trapped behind the bush and becoming slightly uncomfortable under the inu's unwavering gaze Kagome snapped, "Could you maybe turn around so that I can get dressed now?!"

She was sure that it was just embarrassment causing her brain to hallucinate, but she could have sworn she saw the stoic lord smirk before turning his back on her.

Later, after successfully putting her goodies back in their bag and re-donning her shirt, Kagome launched into her promised explanation, telling Sesshomaru all about the risks of breast cancer and the importance of regular self exams between mammograms.

After she had finished with her impromptu lecture, she sat awaiting with dread the awkward questions that would surely come from the youkai sitting beside her, and was therefore relieved when he replied to all of her revelations only with his trademark, "Hn."

Youkai and miko then sat side by side in silence for a time, in which said miko was contemplating how she was ever going to look the silver haired male in the eyes again.

Surprisingly enough it was the usually tight-lipped inu that finally broke the silence, "Miko, the next time you must perform such an examination upon yourself This Sesshomaru shall assist you."

With that and a definite smirk in her direction the Lord of the West rose to his feet, casually making his way back to camp and leaving the now brilliantly blushing girl, speechless and frozen in shock upon the ground.

**This was just a silly little oneshot about the importance and proper procedure of performing regular self breast exams; written for Priestess Skye's Think Pink Challenge in honor of breast cancer awareness month.**

**I hope you enjoyed it and thank you for reading! **


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